Silver Bay Seafoods President and CEO Cora Campbell returned to her Southeast Alaska hometown in Petersburg to meet with the fleet. Local fishermen, processing plant staff and community members who gathered for a Silver Bay social hour in Petersburg’s Sons of Norway Hall directed their attention to Campbell at front of the room.
“If you find a member of the Silver Bay Leadership team, there’s a very good chance that that girl grew up in Petersburg,” she said.
Campbell’s family has delivered fish to the processing plant in Petersburg for generations, and she said she’s watched the plant undergo multiple different ownership changes over the years.
Silver Bay, a fishermen-owned company, announced in March that it was buying out international processing giant OBI Seafoods. It’s now a partnership between Silver Bay, which bought out the interest in OBI owned by Cooke Aquaculture, and Bristol Bay Economic Development Corporation (BBEDC), a community-owned group that stayed invested.
“We want the things that are working for you and working for this community to continue to work,” Campbell told the gathering. “We just want to do it from a base of a strong company … focused on making fishermen successful, along with the success of this community. Because they absolutely go hand-in-hand.”
She offered assurance that the transition from OBI to Silver Bay is a matter of a “different logo on your hat” rather than changes to staff on the local level.
“We run plants all over the state … and we can say we have the recipe for success right here in Petersburg,” Campbell said.
She spoke the day prior with KFSK’s Olivia Rose about the future of the local OBI plant, which Campbell said will undergo yet another name change.
Listen here:
“The OBI name will go away, we’re not planning to use that name going forward,” said Campbell, announcing all OBI plants will now be in the name of Silver Bay. “We want to keep a strong connection to that local point of pride with Petersburg Fisheries and Icicle but we will be operating it as Silver Bay Seafoods, Petersburg [facility].”
Silver Bay now owns half of OBI Seafoods, with BBEDC retaining its share, but Silver Bay will manage all OBI facilities and operations. That includes plants in Bristol Bay and the Gulf of Alaska, and three other plants in Southeast Alaska. Campbell said the region’s plants will operate as a group.
“We’ll be able to move fish around as is going to make the most sense, to get it in the highest value product form, preserve quality and make sure fishermen get the best service,” she said.
Silver Bay Seafoods, Petersburg facility
The OBI seafood processing plant in Petersburg is one of the town’s largest employers. Campbell said those local jobs are not on the chopping block; the changes happening are “more at the corporate level…”
“I think what you’re going to see is more opportunity to maybe bring fish from other places to Petersburg. Or when Petersburg has too much fish, you’ll have a bigger network to make sure that that gets processed timely,” she said. “But none of that is going to be seen or felt by the fishermen on the water. The goal is to make it seamless and supportive … so that they can concentrate on running their fishing businesses.”
Asked about the transition’s timeline, Campbell said, “It’s fully under Silver Bay management now,” meeting their goal to be “fully up and running” by the time large volume deliveries arrive from the summer fisheries.
Then Campbell explained that Silver Bay plans to operate a lengthy season.
“So we’ll open up for tanners in February, just like under OBI, and then roll right through the halibut, the black cod, the dungies, into salmon, and stay open for fall fisheries,” she elaborated. “We do intend to buy gillnet fish, seined fish, crab, longline fish. We [want to] make sure that we’re supporting the fishermen who operate in a multi-species way.”
Keeping the variety
But will all the same product be processed the same way? Campbell says that’ll change a little bit.
Campbell noted the plant was installing some different processing equipment, the purpose for which she described as a means to “maximize all the fish” and “have the ability to produce the right product at the right time” if the consumer market shifts.
“But you will still see a lot of the same things … and many of the same core products,” she said. “So really across the board, looking to produce a variety of products.”
And looking to the upcoming season, Campbell sees a few key factors.
“It’s a time of great uncertainty in the national policy and global economy, but as long as there are no major disruptors I think people should feel good that we’re seeing strong halibut markets … strong crab markets … some recovery in the salmon markets after a couple of really difficult years,” she said. “And our industry is very cyclical, but I think that message that we believe we’re turning a corner here and see a lot of hope for the future is one that I hope folks can hear and take heart in.”
Overall, Campbell said the fishermen-owned company is “committed to this community.”
“The profit sharing back with the fishermen all applies to this Petersburg facility, just like it does to the rest of Silver Bay. And that’s really what I’m hoping that people will take away from this transition.”
